Major Purchase

Have made a major lifestyle purchase today--a wider, padded bike seat. I believe because of the pain I was in on Friday, I neglected to tell my devoted readers about my bike ride into downtown Duesseldorf . Went with friends Joy and Mary from our homes in Kaiserswerth all the way into and round Duessledorf. We had lunch, bought Skip and birthday present and sought out the international store where cake mixes, Bisquick and Diet Dr. Pepper can be had--for a price. Basically I spent about 2 to 2 1/2 hours on a bike dodging through Duesseldorf traffic like Kevin Bacon in "Quiksilver". Okay, so it was probably more like something out of a Bernstein Bears book, but the point is, my backside was hating me by the time it was over. Thank goodness Joy had plenty of Advil at her house and an ice pack in her freezer. But now I'll be ready for the next trip with my luxurious, padded, wide-model bike seat. Before I started riding my bike so much, I would have said my posterior had more than ample padding, but clearly, that is not the case.

If it's not raining (and that's a very big IF), biking is the way to travel around here. It's quicker than walking, parking is not a problem and you get to check out places you would miss if you were in a car or the train. The problem is that the weather and the temperature can turn on a dime here. So you have to wear layers that you can shed if the sun comes out and have a rain jacket in your saddle bags in case it starts to rain. Toss in some sunglasses because when the sun does come out it's really bright. There are some impressive people who can bike with one hand on the handlebars and holding an umbrella in the other. I am not one of those people.

I still don't have a helmet. Lots of people don't wear them here, but as my friend Mary says, "My family needs me to have a brain." Need to get one, but I have to go with someone who knows about such things. I know there's a certain way they should fit, but they all felt funny on my head.

Maddie has a new bike that she got from friends Paige and Zoe. We haven't had much luck getting her up on it, but one nice weekend, we're turning her over to Joy who has gotten 4 kids up and running on bikes. It's nice to have resident experts on hand.